


Exacerbate

by NephthysMoon



Category: Avatar: The Last Airbender
Genre: F/M, Rare Pairings
Language: English
Status: Completed
Published: 2012-09-07
Updated: 2012-09-07
Packaged: 2017-11-13 17:50:40
Rating: Not Rated
Warnings: No Archive Warnings Apply
Chapters: 1
Words: 1,766
Publisher: archiveofourown.org
Story URL: https://archiveofourown.org/works/506126
Author URL: https://archiveofourown.org/users/NephthysMoon/pseuds/NephthysMoon
Summary: <blockquote class="userstuff">
              <p>In a time when Zuko cannot make the search for his mother himself, he hires the best bounty hunter he knows - and sends two trusted men to join her. Along the way, things take a rather unexpected turn and Jun finds herself the unwilling recipient of some of Aunt Wu's advice on relationships.</p>
            </blockquote>





	Exacerbate

**Author's Note:**

  * For [c3childs](https://archiveofourown.org/users/c3childs/gifts).



> I have to admit, when I read the prompt, I had NO bloody clue what to do with it. Then I just thought, alright, brain, let's just write and see what happens. This is what happened. Much love to my betas, who shall remain nameless at this time to protect my identity.

In the end, it was a matter of choices.

She’d always been a practical woman – some could even say to a fault. A girl had to make a living, though. The Firelord had paid her very, very well, too, on their first encounter. Enough that she could probably have retired, if she’d wanted to, but she liked what she did for a living. At least she had, until she’d been sent hither and yon with a decade-old scent to follow and nothing but a name that any exile with half a brain would have changed and two traveling companions who were wary of one another but shared a common bond: their love for a buffoon.

“So you’re Sokka’s sword master,” the Watertribesman said slowly, looking at the slightly older man with more than a little wariness.

“And you’re his father,” the other man replied.

Jun looked from one to the other. The sword master was tall, slender, hiding the strength that she knew him to possess under his stifling formal robes. His dress spoke of Fire Nation nobility, of wealth and status. The other man was shorter, stockier, with piercing blue eyes and a broader face. His clothing told a different story; here was a man who lived his life out of doors, on the harsher climes of the South, where even the summer was blisteringly cold.

 _A study in dichotomy,_ she thought, amused. Yet each man seemed to possess a nature as different from his homeland as possible. Where Piandao was cool, calm, collected and serene, Hakoda seemed to burn with an inner fire – yet both men had left an indelible mark on Sokka.

“As fascinating as this is,” she said dryly enough to let them know she’d had enough of their posturing, “we’re burning daylight here, and the Firelord is paying by the day. As much as I like spending his money, I’m sure neither of you wants to be responsible for costing him more than necessary.”

She watched, fascinated, as both men silenced immediately and mounted their eel-hounds. They were the only form of transport Zuko had been able to provide that would potentially keep up with Nyla. Piandao mounted with a smooth, practiced grace, while Hakoda did so more awkwardly. She tried not to laugh. She knew that Zuko wanted to come on this particular mission himself, or at least send one of his trusted friends, but with all the uprisings around the world, they were all, the Firelord especially, needed elsewhere. She smiled and pulled a small scrap of cloth from its wrapping. According to Firelord Zuko, it was his mother’s favourite dressing gown, the one she’d worn every evening when she’d been alone in her rooms.

Nyla sniffed it, inhaling deeply. Something unworn for so long would have a more difficult to determine scent, and Jun knew it. Eventually, the beast perked up its nose, picking up the scent. Jun smiled.

“Come on, boys,” she called, jumping into the saddle. “We’ve got a Princess to find.”

They’d started outside the crumbled walls of Ba Sing Se, with the Firelord determining that if his mother had been exiled, as he had, there was no better place to look than the one place that housed so many of the war’s refugees, but Nyla was heading not into the city, as had been expected, but away from it. Jun sighed. This was going to be a long trip.

Three days later, and she was beginning to wonder if all the gold in the Firelord’s coffers would be enough. Her companions were pleasant enough company, but she could tell that they were subtly trying to outdo one another. It must be due to the fact that they had the common link through Hakoda’s son, but their petty little competitions were driving her mad. She’d thought that Piandao, at least, was above all of it.

Worse, she was beginning to find herself wondering which of them would be the better lover.

Four days after that, as Piandao was showing his altered paintings of Ursa through a village where she’d obviously spent some time (a small, Earth Kingdom town that looked familiar to Jun – hadn’t she been here before while Zuko was looking for that Water Tribe girlfriend of his? Yes, she had! There was that crazy old fortune-telling woman looking at her knowingly!), she realized that she had well and truly lost her mind as she considered whether Hakoda’s broad shoulders made up for the fact that he had two children from his previous wife or not.

“This lady says that she spent about six weeks here, but she left not three weeks ago,” Hakoda said, turning to Jun, who had just concluded that, shoulders or not, she was not the step-mother type.

“Aunt Wu,” the woman said. “Care to have your fortune told, dear?” she asked, leading Jun into her house without another word. Before the bounty hunter knew what she was doing, she found herself seated on a cushion, bereft of her companions and staring at the old woman before her.

“I don’t believe in fortune telling,” she said simply.

“Ah, neither did his son,” Aunt Wu said, nodding her head towards the door. “Sokka. And yet his fortune – came true. His life is full of unhappiness – most of it self-inflicted. He gave his heart to the girl destined to become the Moon Spirit, knowing she’s betrothed to another. He gives his heart to the leader of the Warriors of Kyoshi, though his duties will bind him to the South Pole. He will give his heart to the blind Earthbender, who cannot see upon the tundra he calls home. It is not until he learns to give his heart to someone who walks in freedom, with lightness in her heart and in her steps that he will truly learn happiness.”

Jun stared at the woman, wondering at her knowledge of Sokka’s love life, and wondering at the blindness of everyone around them that they couldn’t see what was so obvious that an idiot fortune teller half a world away could. She laughed. “You’re alright,” she said, grudgingly.

“There is no scent upon the tundra that the Chieftain of the South calls home,” Aunt Wu said softly, pulling Jun’s hand into her own and staring at her palm intently. “And while motherhood may yet be in your future, it is not for you to raise those who have already been born. But enough of romance, for that is not why you truly came – it was never something you planned upon, and for you, it will not come with panda lilies and soft words on gentle breezes. The one you seek has left our shores, and makes her way to rock and fire and ash. More than that, I cannot see. She seeks to right a wrong that was done long ago, and seek penance for a crime for which she has already been forgiven, I feel.”

Jun nodded. Ursa was already on her way to her son. This whole trip had been a waste. She pondered Aunt Wu’s words – maybe not a total waste.

She let Nyla lead them out of town before she told them the information that she’d gotten from the woman, leaving out the part where it came in the form of a fortune cookie.

“So she’s already on her way to the Fire Nation?” Piandao asked.

“That’s what she said, but I’d like to make sure,” June said. “Nyla can continue to track her, to verify that the old woman wasn’t lying. If Ursa thinks we’re spies, or that we’ve been sent by Ozai, there’s a chance she’d lead a false trail.”

That night, she waited until Piandao had fallen asleep. “Hakoda, can I ask you a question?”

“Sure,” he said, smiling at her slowly. “I’ll answer anything you want to know.”

“Tell me about your home,” she said. As he described it, she could see it in her mind, the towering wall of ice, the beautiful, insulated village of snow, the family-based community. It sounded wonderful.

“Are there any smells there?” she asked softly.

“The smell of cooking seaprunes,” he said, grinning at the thought. “Penguins…” he trailed off, looking at Nyla. “I see. She wouldn’t like it there, would she?”

Jun shook her head. “What about your son?” she asked. “Where does he fit in?”

“Unlike our sister tribe, where being Chief is a position that is elected based on who has the most power, we’re more of a monarchy. I’m not saying that it’s better, or worse, just that it’s always been that way. When I die, Sokka will be Chief after me. In our history, no one has ever stepped down before dying and passed on the title to his son. The only time it has passed from anyone other than a father to son is when a man had no living sons to pass it to,” he said. “Why?”

“What about the Kyoshi girl your son is courting? Does he expect her to give up her leadership role to accommodate his?” she asked softly.

“I honestly don’t know,” Hakoda answered. “I don’t think they’ve actually thought about that. Where did all this come from?”

“Aunt Wu and I had quite a chat today,” she said.

“Piandao is a very lucky man,” he replied. “You’re – bitter, sarcastic, and absolutely nothing like Kya, my wife – but if I had to fall in love again, Jun, I’m glad it was with someone like you.”

She stopped, bent down, and gently kissed his cheek. Bitter and sarcastic she might be, but insensitive she was not. “I’m honoured you chose me,” she said, slipping into her bedroll.

A week later, they landed on Fire Nation shores, where a beautiful, humble woman greeted them on the docks of the capitol city.

“Welcome back,” she said, and her smile was warm and welcoming. “Master Piandao, it is good to see you again.”

The low bow he offered her told Jun that they’d found the woman. “Princess Ursa, it is an honor to be in your presence again.”

“You must be Chief Hakoda, and the Lady Jun,” Princess Ursa said kindly. “My son has asked me to lead you to the Palace and see that you are well-rested and adequately compensated.”

Two weeks later, in what she would consider a castle, surrounded by servants, a man who adored her, in the most unconventional relationship she could possibly imagine, watching her lover train another hopeful student in the way of the sword in the courtyard, she decided that the compensation was more than adequate.


End file.
